Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/15
August 24, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All MHSAA fall sports but football kicked off competition last week, with cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving and volleyball starting Saturday.
Below are some notable headlines from the first weekend of this season, plus links to coverage.
Cross Country
St. Johns hosted its second “Under the Lights” meets Friday; Ithaca’s girls and Saugatuck’s boys bested fields loaded with much larger opponents – Lansing State Journal
The St. Joseph girls and Bridgman boys won championships at the Niles Stampede – the St. Joseph girls, who finished fourth in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, by a large margin – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
Girls Golf
Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, last season’s LP Division 4 individual champion, came back to defeat Brighton freshman Annie Pietila at the two-day Lober Invitational at Grand Traverse Resort – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Boys Soccer
Two of the state’s powers met in the championship game of the Detroit Country Day Tournament on Saturday – with 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bloomfield Hills downing the host Yellowjackets 1-0 in a shootout – Oakland Press
Girls Swimming & Diving
Howell won its Kenzie Klassic, which honors swimmer Mackenize Watts, who died in 2005 at age 15. The school also raised enough money to award three scholarships and begin funding cardiac-related causes – Livingston Daily
Volleyball
Novi won the Lakeshore Classic by coming back after losing the first two games to beat Grand Haven 3-2 in a rematch of a 2014 Class A Semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle
Battle Creek Harper Creek, for the first time, won the gold championship at the long-running Carrie Adams Memorial Tournament hosted by reigning Class D champion Battle Creek St. Philip – Battle Creek Enquirer
Good Read
Mike Steele, a Midland Dow grad and now pitching coach at Long Beach State in California, argues that parents need to raise their athletes to compete instead of providing specific training in one sport – Midland Daily News
Today in the MHSAA: 3/4/16
March 4, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The boys basketball regular season finished up in most areas of the state Thursday, as the Individual Wrestling Finals got started and the hockey, girls basketball and boys diving postseasons continued on.
Girls Basketball
After falling to rival Bath only a few weeks ago, Laingsburg came back to win the District battle of co-champions from the Central Michigan Athletic Conference, 41-27 – Lansing State Journal
Boys Basketball
Unbeaten Canton secured the overall Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship with a 50-47 overtime win over Walled Lake Western – Oakland Press
Detroit U-D Jesuit won the Operation Friendship game between champions from the Detroit Catholic League and Public School League, downing East English 92-76 – Detroit News
Traxton Gordon scored the 1,000th point of his Hesperia career despite a loss to North Muskegon – Muskegon Chronicle
Keegan George also went over 1,000 points for his career, although his Spring Lake team fell to Muskegon Catholic Central – Muskegon Chronicle
From Tuesday, Pickford’s Derrick Edington also joined the 1,000 point club in a 68-63 win over Rogers City – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
The Detroit Free Press introduced the five finalists for this season’s Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Mr. Basketball Award – Detroit Free Press
Ice Hockey
Cadillac scored with 20 seconds to play in regulation to edge Mount Pleasant 3-2 in a Division 3 Pre-Regional – Cadillac News
For the fourth time in five seasons, Brighton ended Howell’s season, this time 3-1 in a battle of Division 1 contenders – Livingston Daily
Warren DeLaSalle just survived Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett in Division 3, 5-4 after leading 3-0 early – Macomb Daily
Midland advanced in Division 2 with a 4-1 win over Midland Dow after falling to Dow twice during the regular season – Midland Daily News
After falling to Muskegon Reeths-Puffer in the tournament the last three seasons, Mona Shores came out on top with a 6-5 win in Division 2 – Muskegon Chronicle
Wrestling
Hartland’s Sage Castillo improved to 53-0 this season with a pin in his Division 1 first-round match as the MHSAA Individual Finals kicked off at The Palace of Auburn Hills – Detroit News